England could play just 4 home games in 1400+ days?

[Scubby]

November 2016 to October 2020. Wow!

One of those 4 being at LSV on a Wednesday night with no TV coverage. 

In 7 years since the 2013 World Cup semi final, England may have played as few as 11 home games - 2 of those at Leigh Sports village against France (and only one game against Australia). Between 2001 and 2005 we played the Aussies at home 11 times.

Is that it now? Can we look forward to missing whole years of home tests every other year?

[GeordieSaint]

Don’t do it to yourself Scubby... I’ve lost the need to actually care - and I took nearly a 100 people to the SF at Wembley, 50 to Cardiff and 75 to OP vs NZ. Don’t care anymore.

[Scubby]

14 minutes ago, GeordieSaint said:

Don’t do it to yourself Scubby... I’ve lost the need to actually care - and I took nearly a 100 people to the SF at Wembley, 50 to Cardiff and 75 to OP vs NZ. Don’t care anymore.

I do care though and it makes me feel like chucking in the sport. I have union and cricket loving friends going to 8-10 home internationals a year - why is it so hard to follow RL?

Even a simple change such as aligning the SL/NRL GF could open a 2-week window for England to invite a touring side over for two tests before going overseas. It feels like the authorities are happy putting their feet up on the desk every other year and packing off the burden to other countries. We will have had no England home games in 3 of six years going into 2020.

How the #### can we hope to sell 750,000 tickets in 2021 with no games, withered mailing lists and no momentum? We will have beaten the enthusiasm out of England fans if we are not careful. It is no coincidence that this test series has sluggish sales as 2016 did. Attending major internationals is a habit. 

[Dunbar]

One of the things that union and cricket have in common is that the national team plays home games while the sports domestic competition carries on.  England RU have four home internationals this Autumn while the Premiership continues.

Rugby League has an Autumn window to squeeze in all our internationals after the end of the domestic season and one week set aside in the NRL for rep weekend.

To get more England games something has to give.  Personally, I would be happy to see an England team assembled to play for 4 weeks within our season for a tournament or a series.  But would the clubs and fans accept this.  I fear not.

[welshmagpie]

We need three international windows:

One game in May.

One game in June.

A maximum of 3 games in October/November.

 

No nation should ever have a year without a home game. Yet some go years without any game (see Cook Islands) 

[Scubby]

7 minutes ago, Dunbar said:

One of the things that union and cricket have in common is that the national team plays home games while the sports domestic competition carries on.  England RU have four home internationals this Autumn while the Premiership continues.

Rugby League has an Autumn window to squeeze in all our internationals after the end of the domestic season and one week set aside in the NRL for rep weekend.

To get more England games something has to give.  Personally, I would be happy to see an England team assembled to play for 4 weeks within our season for a tournament or a series.  But would the clubs and fans accept this.  I fear not.

Exactly, I like watching club RL but love watching International RL. I live outside the UK but the last 2 games I attended were both London International games (2015, 2016). Before that was the World Cup semi final and final. You have someone who loves RL with disposable income and actively encouraging them to spend it on other sports! I will end up at ####ing Twickenham at this rate if I stop refusing the offers (and they are lucrative). That would be a new low for me. 

[Dunbar]

5 minutes ago, Scubby said:

Exactly, I like watching club RL but love watching International RL. I live outside the UK but the last 2 games I attended were both London International games. Before that was the World Cup semi final and final. You have someone who loves RL with disposable income and actively encouraging to spend it on other sports! I will end up at ####ing Twickenham at this rate if I stop refusing the offers (and they are lucrative). That would be a new low for me. 

Don't do it Scubby, don't go there! I live quite close to Twickenham and I have to close my eyes when I pass it so I don't have to look at it... bloody dangerous when you are driving though.

[Scubby]

7 minutes ago, Dunbar said:

Don't do it Scubby, don't go there! I live quite close to Twickenham and I have to close my eyes when I pass it so I don't have to look at it... bloody dangerous when you are driving though.

I look a fool genuinely. They are busy booking trips months in advance. Dates fixed in the calendar every year. Imagine if I'd persuaded a few of them to fly in for the test at Anfield and they moved the bloody date. They get offers on hospitality tickets and stuff. Same with cricket. I enquired about hospitality for the 2016 4N and the people I spoke to didn't have a scooby do - said they'd phone back and never did.

I am missing my first test series in decades this time. Just don't have the will to make the effort. I can't even book the ####ing seats I would want to at Liverpool. As I said, you make it impossible to follow a sport then people (even the most die hard followers) will drift away. I might keep my head down until April (post 6N) and do Lords instead lol. 

[St Reatham]

We can blame external barriers as to why the game as a whole hasn’t grown, but this highlights that we are our own worst enemy. 

[Oliver Clothesoff]

Australia don’t seem to want to play International Rugby unless it’s on their terms and even then, they don’t seem that keen on playing. Even less so on playing England. 

The mid-season Test with NZ was nearly scuppered by the NRL teams for “altitude issues” and teams not wanting to release their players. 

The NRL are preserving their own competition and who can blame them? They’re on track for a $40m profit this year according to reports, why would they take more interest in say Ireland or Scotland? 

Maybe arrogance is a trait we should be adopting. There’s no presence of the game in Ireland or Scotland other than at amateur/summer level (didn’t the Scottish League disband?) in parks to keep blokes fit for Union in Winter, the Welsh have two third tier teams but at least have a number of Welsh born players in their side, though they’re not even in the same league as England and France are a terrible national side. We shouldn’t want to play France, it’s a pointless exercise in which we rack up a load of points and win comfortably. 

 

[Clogiron]

Now Mal Meningas bemoaning the lack of Kangaroo tours, bet there's people over there looking for a way to oust him and get someone more 'compliant' in, and a few here too I wouldn't be surprised.

 

[Scubby]

8 minutes ago, Clogiron said:

Now Mal Meningas bemoaning the lack of Kangaroo tours, bet there's people over there looking for a way to oust him and get someone more 'compliant' in, and a few here too I wouldn't be surprised.

 

Kangaroo tours only worked in Winter seasons. No club is in any fit state to play a rep match in November.

[LaneCoveTiger]

Is this the opportunity to get the Hearns involved? Maybe they could pay to bring the likes of Fiji and Samoa over for tests. Book some large glamorous stadiums and promote the hell out of it. Once the players from the touring teams and England are paid they keep any profits.

The RFL still seem to be able to make  profit against Oz and NZ but we need more games. I’m sure the Hearns could make playing France a bit more interesting then the LSV on a Wednesday night.

[17 stone giant]

54 minutes ago, LaneCoveTiger said:

Is this the opportunity to get the Hearns involved? Maybe they could pay to bring the likes of Fiji and Samoa over for tests. Book some large glamorous stadiums and promote the hell out of it. Once the players from the touring teams and England are paid they keep any profits.

If the Hearn's can fill a large glamorous stadium for England vs Fiji or Samoa, it would be the biggest miracle since Jesus fed the 5000.

Come to think of it, 5000 would probably be the crowd figure for those games combined.

 

 

 

 

 

[Mr Plow]

What if they have a shorter domestic season and more internationals

[Oliver Clothesoff]

15 minutes ago, Mr Plow said:

What if they have a shorter domestic season and more internationals

Clubs would never vote for that. 

[MattSantos]

8 hours ago, Scubby said:

I look a fool genuinely. They are busy booking trips months in advance. Dates fixed in the calendar every year. Imagine if I'd persuaded a few of them to fly in for the test at Anfield and they moved the bloody date. They get offers on hospitality tickets and stuff. Same with cricket. I enquired about hospitality for the 2016 4N and the people I spoke to didn't have a scooby do - said they'd phone back and never did.

I am missing my first test series in decades this time. Just don't have the will to make the effort. I can't even book the ####ing seats I would want to at Liverpool. As I said, you make it impossible to follow a sport then people (even the most die hard followers) will drift away. I might keep my head down until April (post 6N) and do Lords instead lol. 

I very nearly did fly in for the Anfield game. Im in same boat as you, my money is very close to going elsewhere

[LaneCoveTiger]

5 hours ago, 17 stone giant said:

If the Hearn's can fill a large glamorous stadium for England vs Fiji or Samoa, it would be the biggest miracle since Jesus fed the 5000.

Come to think of it, 5000 would probably be the crowd figure for those games combined.

 

 

 

 

 

I won’t mention the 25,000 that watched England play Fiji during the World Cup in Hull. I think if it is locked in 18 months out we could pull a great crowd.

[thirteenthman]

10 hours ago, LaneCoveTiger said:

I’m sure the Hearns could make playing France a bit more interesting then the LSV on a Wednesday night.

If the Hearns could magically make the French competitive, it would probably help.

[thirteenthman]

3 hours ago, LaneCoveTiger said:

I won’t mention the 25,000 that watched England play Fiji during the World Cup in Hull. I think if it is locked in 18 months out we could pull a great crowd.

And the difference there is it was a World Cup match. As a big event, it draws in the casual sports fan in a way a one off game against the likes of Fiji never could.

[Oxford]

England could play just 4 home games in 1400+ days?

 

As many as that things are definitely on the up then, and clearly the powers on high have listened to the concerns of the fans.

[17 stone giant]

19 hours ago, LaneCoveTiger said:

I won’t mention the 25,000 that watched England play Fiji during the World Cup in Hull. I think if it is locked in 18 months out we could pull a great crowd.

When the original poster said a "large glamorous stadium", I was thinking they meant somewhere like Old Trafford or St James Park. Somewhere with at least a 50000 capacity. That's what I was basing my reply on.

And, seriously, what the heck is this current obsession on here with every event needing to be announced light years in advance? Why do you think people need to know about it 18 months in advance?

[MattSantos]

5 hours ago, 17 stone giant said:

When the original poster said a "large glamorous stadium", I was thinking they meant somewhere like Old Trafford or St James Park. Somewhere with at least a 50000 capacity. That's what I was basing my reply on.

And, seriously, what the heck is this current obsession on here with every event needing to be announced light years in advance? Why do you think people need to know about it 18 months in advance?

So people can book stuff.

I  was 2 days away from flying into Liverpool for the Anfield test, lucky i didn't as i cant make the Sunday.

2019 tour for example - i want to book now. I can't, so my money and time is going elsewhere.

The NFL, Cricket World Cup and Rugby Union jazz are all contenders for my cash & time, they organise competitions in advance so are more likely to receive my cash. 

 

[17 stone giant]

8 hours ago, MattSantos said:

So people can book stuff.

I  was 2 days away from flying into Liverpool for the Anfield test, lucky i didn't as i cant make the Sunday.

2019 tour for example - i want to book now. I can't, so my money and time is going elsewhere.

The NFL, Cricket World Cup and Rugby Union jazz are all contenders for my cash & time, they organise competitions in advance so are more likely to receive my cash. 

 

I get the need to have some time to plan ahead, but I don't think that people need 18 months notice for a home game against Fiji or Samoa.